Rants from a bored man

No I don’t want to run around saying it. I want to be able to read it. And I want it back in Mark Twain’s great classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Its one of America’s great books and I find it pathetic that its either banned from many schools, and now changed. The controversial word of course is nigger. And in the new edition of the book its been replaced by the word slave. And I think its sad and pathetic.

For the record I am just some white boy. However I was not born here and that perhaps is the reason why I am not burdened with the weight of centuries of racism and exploitation that Black Americans faced in the United stated throughout the centuries. I laugh at racist jokes, I laugh when a joke (if funny) includes the word nigger, mostly spoken by a Black comedian. I don’t look around uncomfortable and red faced wondering if anyone will think I’m a racist if I laugh. I don’t mind talking about race, and race relations. I also abhor racism of any kind. However, I detest the idea that in a free society certain topics are taboo, and that kids who are 17 or 18 years old can not discuss those topics or, god forbid, read a great book which has the word nigger in it. I hope I am not shocking anyone but kids that age have pretty much all drunk booze, done pot, had sex, and swore like sailors. And I am pretty sure that most at one time or another have heard, read, or said “nigger.” Yes, they did. And they are not as stupid as some think they are.

No indeed, young people are smarter and more mature than we give them credit for. Perhaps its their parents who need to be sanitized. The kids can handle a conversation about race. They wont be scarred for life when they see how black people in America were treated and spoken to in XIXth century America. And seriously, is “slave” better? The word slave does not apply to Jim. He run away, he is a runaway slave. On his way to freedom. But free or not for a long time whites in America called blacks nothing but nigger, slavery had nothing to do with it in most cases. At best they were referred to as “boy” or “uncle” if older. So how the hell is using the word slave better? Because the NAACP want the word banned?

While I am not crazy about banning anything I do get why they do want it gone from our society. The overuse of such a deplorable term is a terrible by product of America’s history. And its sad that today its mostly descendants of the people who were so oppressed by the word itself, among countless other humiliations, use it as if it meant nothing or was a cool thing to say. But it has nothing to do with a book written in 1885. The book is a reflection of XIXth century America. No one went around and called black people slave. No, they called them nigger, or boy, or uncle. No one called them sir either. Denying that means denying our dark past. Its nothing but revisionism and running away from something that makes us uncomfortable. And I am sorry, but the history of Black Americans is too important to revise or ignore. We must face it, own up to it and only then will we be able to learn from it and live with it.

And the kids we pretend to want to protect will understand that better than we do. Last night Comedy Central run the South Park movie (unedited [gasp]). Its was about the going to see their favourite Canadian characters in a film which was mainly fart jokes and foul language. The parents were so appalled when the kids started cursing they arrested the film’s heroes, and they were going to be executed, plus America went to war with Canada over that in typical over the top South Park fashion. I love South Park, its crude, its over the top, but its quite thoughtful and exposes many of America’s idiocies, like censorship, overprotective parents, political correctness gone wild and many many others. And this latest of the very long saga over Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is not that different.

Why do you not want your kids to learn about how black people were treated in America? The book shows that brilliantly, and deals with America’s racism. “Its uncomfortable” is not a good enough reason. The word nigger is a disgusting term that should not be uttered in today’s society. By choice of course, not because someone wants to ban it. However it is an important part of American English language and American history. We can’t just ignore it and hope it goes away. The only way we can properly deal with it and eliminate it is to teach how disgusting it really is. And Mark Twain’s book is a great teaching tool. One would think that America’s parents and educators would be jumping for joy at the opportunity to use such a great example to teach about racism, slavery, and American history. But no, America’s parents and educators will now treat this like the birds and the bees. Yet another euphemism to avoid dealing with what they see as an uncomfortable subject. Because god forbid we would have to explain something properly to kids. Then we run around and wonder why they do the things they do. Well its because you do not respect them, you think them stupid and unable to handle anything that may be even remotely uncomfortable for you. Sex is a natural act, its the only way we survive as a species, but when a kid, 8 or 12, asks where do babies come from we fucking invent storks or talk of birds and bees. What the hell is that about? Are your children retarded? If kids learned the importance and consequences of sex properly perhaps they would see it in a different light. But no, their repressed parents don’t think they can handle it. And now its slavery and treatment of black people in America.

Ugh, so uncomfortable. Maybe if I say something the NAACP will come after me. The strange bit of this mess is that America’s black leaders are going along with this shit, hell some are actually leading the cause. Why? How? Because Jim is not painted as an all around good guy? Not good enough role model for you? Well there is hardly anyone in the book that could be described as a saint. Jim is not alone in his imperfection. Well guess what, black people are not perfect. Most are not great role models, just like anyone else. They are flawed like Jim was flawed. So what. He was more human that way. The world is not filled with perfect heroes. You want another sanitized hero? Perhaps next we could make Jim into a superman fighting the injustice of slavery while saving damsels in distress and princesses in tall towers. Shit, another difficult conversation. Or do we now think that only people of great moral character deserved freedom, love, respect, and escape from slavery?

Pathetic. We are a supposedly free country. Yet we choose to censor ourselves. I bet if the government tried to censor something the same people would be up in arms. The main problem here is that when we substitute the word nigger with slave then it becomes just a descriptive term. Jim is an escaped slave. Now for over 270 times the reader will be reminded that Jim was a slave. Not a person being insulted even by people who like him, because they just don’t know any better. That is how badly blacks were spoken to and described. A slave is basically an “employment” status. In XIXth century America a black person could be a slave or a free man, but to most white people he was always a nigger. That is how bad it was. But no, its uncomfortable, so we wont show that, lest the kids ask questions like why, can’t have that. Better just say, slavery bad, we’re sorry, all is well now, lets move on to Teddy Roosevelt.

And “injun?” Really? Seriously? No one in the XIX century said injun? I hate to break this to everyone but the book was written in the 1880’s and is about the 1800’s and that is how people spoke, or will we have to have that conversation in which the nice red skinned people gave us nice white people land to settle? Trust me, no kids are going to start running around screaming “injuns!” if they see the word. Its another uncomfortable thought we all wish we did not have to deal with and we hope it would just go away. but that pesky Twain had to ruin it for everyone. Now we have to decide to think and talk of things that make us uncomfortable, or god forbid admit that we are racist or that we were at least. Can’t have that.

The development of Modern Industry, therefore, cuts from under its feet the very foundation on which the bourgeoisie produces and appropriates products. What the bourgeoisie, therefore, produces, above all, are its own grave-diggers. Its fall and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable.

—(The Communist Manifesto)

Well, not really. The Commie god Karl Marx predicted revolution. And revolution came. But it was not the proletariat that rose up as he foresaw, but backward, feudal, agrarian societies. It was all backwards. The Commie prophets and gods kept saying how the Western developed nations will follow suit. But the West never did rise up. And no Red dialectic could answer why. They argued, they waited and some are still waiting. But the answer is very simple. Their god and creator Karl Marx was a clueless idiot who had no idea how a human being and society works.

Revolutions are usually lead by small bands, they come in broken societies. Even when the majority of the society is disaffected the people still do not revolt. The most popular “revolution” was the American Revolution. It was supported, more or less, by about a third of the colonists. Another third could not care less, and the last third wanted to live under the crown. The rest of the revolts came from tiny minorities in states that failed, where the police and army could not keep the status quo. The majority of the population neither supported not participated in the revolutions. The support was gotten after victory through terror, reforms, or by simply gaining power. There never was a revolution of the proletariat. And most likely there never will be. The reason for that is quite simple. Social mobility.

Social mobility is a part of a developed industrial society. Even if a tiny portion of the proletariat achieves success, that success is real and is a dream of all of the working class. And when one dreams of becoming part of the rich ruling class one will never attempt to overthrow the class he wants to join.

No. Its not, and never will be.

And that in a nutshell is why Marx’ dream never came true. Another thing Marx failed to consider is that most of the developed states are democracies (those that were not in his time later became ones). In a democracy the people have a voice, no matter how weak. They vote and through that vote take part in the process of governance so they do not revolt against the very representatives they put into office. All one needs to do (in theory at least) is wait till the next election and vote those who have failed the people out of office. Democracy provides for a regular, peaceful “revolt.” The need to rise up is diminished greatly when one has hope of changing the rulers regularly. Its a vent that allows the disaffected to feel like they did something. Even when ones candidate loses there is hope as in a few years time there will be an another election. Every few years a different part of the society feels like it won. When one party stays in power long its due to the majority of the people being content with them. So there is no need for revolt.

In most of the states that communism came to there was no vent, and there was hardly any social mobility. Not so in industrialized states. In time the lives of the proletariat improved enough for them to not want to revolt as each small improvement meant that the anger dissipated. Working conditions were improved, hours were better, pay was raised, unions provided protection, laws were implemented to protect the workers. Each a small step, but enough to forestall any revolt. Of course many of those changes were won with blood of the workers, but in time the ruling class realized it can only oppress so much. Now in many industrialized states the workers have a say in how the companies are run. Instead of being against the ruling owner class they work with them for the common good. And in such a society there is no way that a revolution could come.

When the Red revolt came at the back end of the Great War in Russia there was a small window of opportunity for a wider revolution of the proletariat. But the Western nation were able to stem the revolt by giving some rights to the workers, and the situation stabilized by force or peacefully. Even during the Great Depression there was little chance of a widespread revolt. Everyone suffered. Even many of the rich. After the Second World War there was no chance that the workers would rise up. The West was rebuilding after WWII and there was prosperity and great social mobility. Plus thanks to the Cold War communism became the enemy. Even when workers in Europe protested this and that, they still did not want a Soviet type of communism in their countries. And that was the only communism they knew, and it was not pretty.

In the end Marx’ creation failed on all fronts, simply because it, like its god, failed to understand human nature and society. The idea itself is a noble one. In theory it eliminates poverty, provides care for all, and creates equality. Sounds great. But. Yes, the big BUT. People don’t want to be equal. They want more than basic needs. They want to be better, and to live better than others. Its simple human nature, greed and ego are a great part of it. In theory any American who is not rich should be for higher taxes for the rich. But most do not want to tax the rich. Not because they love them so. But simply because they still believe in the American dream. And just as they wont rise up and try to destroy the class they want to join, they also do not want to tax the class they hope to become a part of.

Today in America we can argue about the rich creating jobs and how taxing them higher may or may not affect those potential jobs. But mainly no one want to tax the rich because they believe that one day they too will become rich themselves, and then they wont want to pay those high taxes. Its a hope, one that is equal to straw clutching, but one that is real. Millions play lotto every week even though their chances of winning are minuscule. Yet they play. Social mobility is not different. That tiny chance of “moving up in the world” exists and the hope is strong. And there is contentment with ones place in a society even when one stopped dreaming of making it. Modern, developed, industrial societies provide for stable, peaceful lives with many distractions and there is no time nor is there a need felt to change ones station. If that need arises there is opportunity for change, even if that change is lateral and not upward, its still a change.

So no Comrade Marx, and all you deluded Reds who are still around. The revolution is not inevitable, in fact its as likely as the coming of the god you don’t believe in.

By “us” I mean us in the literal sense, the whole Western Judeo Christian culture and specifically the U.S. of A. As of now we are still the leaders of that world in politics and culture (for better or worse). But as events and history have proven we are certainly not a monolith. The last time we, all of the Western culture, agreed on something,…. will be the first time. Yes we are quite diverse. Our roots are similar, but out paths and beliefs vary very widely. Republicans certainly don’t want to be lumped with some liberals. The French certainly do not want to be mistaken for the Spaniards. And Canadians wear stickers on their backpacks on holidays with a maple leaf just to make sure no one will confuse them for Yanks. The Poles really, really, hate it when they are mistaken for Russians. And Americans just want to be Americans, no one else. We are all as different as mice and people really. We might share 80% of genes with the rodents but you would not want to marry one.

So are Muslims any different from us? Do they all share 100% of their genes? Is a modernist American Muslim same as a Saudi Wahhabi Iman? If no then why do we Americans paint them as the same. Not all of us of course, but enough for it to be worrying and enough for Muslims to think we do as a people. Are we at war with Islam, or Islamic extremism and terrorists? Are the terrorists representative of a whole spectrum of Islamic societies? Notice I wrote societies in plural. We as a nation need to know the difference. And we must, all of us, decide what are we fighting, Islam or the extremists. President Bush, on a large number of occasions, stressed very strongly that our fight is not with Islam or Muslims of any nation, but with extremists and their supporters. Yet we have forgotten about that. Now I understand that in war (and this is a war, make no mistake about that) propaganda takes over, things get oversimplified, as its hard for a whole people to get behind a nuanced explanation, but. Yes there is a but.

But by out simplistic thinking and actions we are proving the extremists correct in some cases. And that is the last thing we should be doing. When is paranoia going to stop and when will sanity prevail? When we equal Islam to terrorism all we are doing is proving the extremists correct when they call us Crusaders. They firmly believe that the West is out to destroy they faith and culture. That not only are we corrupting Muslims, but we really want to destroy them. And when they see a bunch of idiots wanting to burn their holy book that gives them fuel. When they see well intentioned, but clueless and misguided idiots protesting a mosque it also gives them fuel. Why do we do this? Do so many of us really believe that 1.5 billion people are really out to get us? Do we really think that all of 1.5 billion want to establish the Sharia all over the world? Even those who listen to hip hop, and love out culture? Even those serving in our military? Even those whose family members were killed in terrorist attacks?

Why the hell do we lump them all in the same boat? Muslims, like all people, have a right to disagree with our policies. They have a right to disagree with our invasion of Iraq. They do not have to like Israeli policies toward the Palestinians and out unquestioning support of said policies. Muslims have a right to dislike the profanity and sex in our culture. Hell many conservative Christians are not very fond of it either. Many peace loving people took to the streets and protested our invasion of Iraq, most were not Muslims. Many more dislike how the Israelis treat the Palestinians. Those are real grievances. Yet no one accuses (well no one sane, as I’m sure some have), those people of hating Israel and wanting it destroyed. Or of being anti-American and supporting the terrorists just because someone thought that war is not such a great idea.

Yet when a Muslim does it we do accuse him of those things. Why? Now I get ignorance and lack of nuance in many. But its not just that. It goes beyond that. Just as we don’t want to be accused for the things the French did in Algeria, the Sunni does not want to be accused of what some Shi’a did. But no, we hear Islam and the red mist falls upon us. We don’t see anything else.

We start to deal in absolutes. Like zealots we run around labeling everyone and everything. And its wrong. It is also counter-productive to our cause. When we go out into the streets and protest a mosque (and no, it was not just one mosque in NY that Americans did not want built so spare me the “holy ground” drivel, I don’t buy it, cause unless you believe all of Islam is responsible then you have no argument, and if you do believe that then you are an idiot, so wrong again) what does some guy in Algeria see? He sees Americans calling his faith evil and responsible for terrorism. He sees himself being lumped with the terrorists. And then we expect him to love us for it?

Are we insane? We shit on their religion and then are surprised that many don’t like us? Now don’t get me wrong. Those who are Muslims and who lump all of the West or all of America in the same basket are just as wrong. And nothing the terrorists claim, true or made up, excuses their actions, we were not responsible for 9-11 and all these bastards should be killed, the sooner the better. But we can not run around and act like extremists ourselves and then expect the world to get that we have differences in our society when we see none in theirs. And many who don’t particularly like us or disagree with our politics and policies do not necessarily want to kill us or establish an Islamic Caliphate of America. People have different political opinions. Yet every time some Muslim tries to give a nuanced explanation of 9-11 he is branded as an extremist who hates America. Every time some Muslim (well most of them really) speaks out against Israel then he apparently supports Hamas and Hezbollah, hates Jews and wants Israel wiped of the map. Some do, I’m sure. And screw those, but most do not. What most Muslims want is to live out their lives in peace, to be able to worship freely. To cultivate their culture, to support and raise their children. Sounds familiar? Its what we want. Yet we are becoming as paranoid as North Korea and Iran. Every time someone speaks out with any criticism its “oh shit, they want to destroy us.”

And yes, there are many Muslim idiots out there who would like nothing better than to see the Great Satan destroyed. Just as there are many idiots who view Muslims are the tools of the devil who will perish in hell unless they convert and accept Jesus Christ and their Lord and Saviour and who would love nothing else but to see Islam perish. Fuck them. All of them. All are extremists, but most are like you and me, sane. Just because, as some “Muslims” have sadly proven lately, one hides behind the cloak of faith, whether it is Christian, Jewish or Islamic faith, is does not excuse the shit they do.

Muslims or Extremists?

We have to stop letting lunatics speak for all of us. We have to shut the extremists up. All of us. Muslims and Christians and Jews, and Atheists. I write this to people of the West, but it applies equally to Muslims. But I know the Westerners more. I was born in Europe, I live in America. This is my culture. However, it makes me sad that while my culture professes to be enlightened and the best in the world it does not live up to its own standards. We can’t run around claiming to be more open minded and tolerant than the Muslims while we do stupid shit like protesting mosques. We can’t be running around and comparing ourselves to Saudi Arabia, because everyday we run around and claim we are better than them. Its that simple. Now some of the idiots may have forgotten them. But I still hold American ideals high on my list of ideals. Just as much as I do not want an Islamic Caliphate in New York, I also do not want a Christian theocracy. I want to be able to choose about going to church, about which movies to watch, about which books to read. I don’t want some asshole telling me what to do just because he thinks he knows better. That is un-American.

I want America to not only claim its the best, but to provide a shining example for all the world, not to be comparing itself to Saudi Arabia or Iran. And if we are to be the best, we can’t run around calling Islam a religion of evil and extremism. We certainly would not call Christianity that. And just because its not ours, it does not make it all that different. And just because they are not us, it does not make Muslims all that different from us. We don’t have to love them all, we don’t have to convert, all we have to do is behave like Americans should. Not as some communist would during the Cold War, because that would be un-American, and quite extremist.

EDIT: BTW all this Mosque controversy I think is artificial. The plans for it came out about a year ago and no one had a problem with it. But this year apparently its a bad thing? Why? Well I think its because 2010 is an important election year. And that’s it, stirring controversy for the sake of politics. Just like the Bush administration used to raise the threat level every couple of weeks when elections were approaching. But after the elections there was hardly a threat. And it worked, it scared America. And this does the same, the religious right will certainly be more stirred up now that they know that Muslims want to build a terror headquarters in Lower Manhattan. No I am not some conspiracy freak, though I am that cynical. There were threats all the time during the Bush administration, but they chose to publicize them at only certain times. The mosque controversy will die down after November. That’s how politics works sadly.

I’m a New Yorker. And as a New Yorker let me tell you nothing hurt as much as losing the Twin Towers during the 9-11 attacks 9 years ago. As a human being the lives lost were of course much bigger. And today of all days I should be writing about the attacks and how I was affected by them and the lives lost and how the nation coped with the shock. But aside from my insignificant personal experience which interests no one, what could I write that others have not written much better than me? There are and will be much better posts written on the attacks and the commemorations. I on the other hand want to write about the future of Ground Zero. And the future is mighty bleak. The present I should say, the future will be a matter of opinion.

The Memorial

Future memorial

The Memorial itself is not without controversy. But that’s not the controversy I want to talk about. The way its made and will look is up to personal taste. The same can be said of what it will include and exclude. It will open next September 11. Ten years after the attacks. Yes, 10 fucking years! And it gets better, most of the other towers that we destroyed in 2001 will not be finished till 2013 or 2014 including the newly renamed One World Trade Center (Freedom Tower). And I find this pathetic. We are the richest nation in the world. Its richest city is New York, yet it takes us 10 years to build a museum? A dozen years to build a few buildings? Seriously? How pathetic.

All these years the politicians come out and say how resilient we are, how strong we are as a people, how great we are. Yet 9 years after the attacks nothing stands. Its not a hole in the ground anymore as construction has finally begun, but seriously. In Dubai the Arabs were able to break ground and finish a 165 story tower (and its simply stunning) in under 6 years. That’s right, they started in 2004 and its open already. Yet we can not finish a museum, let alone some buildings. Certainly make one proud to be an American.

Just compare the two. One looks like a fucking ice pick. The lower floors look like a bunker. No style or grace. Just something thrown up. The design itself is unimaginative. Its been done before. Its not particularly pretty. And the hexagonal walls will be lost in the sky line. The Arabs on the other hand built a gorgeous building far taller than anything else standing. And for much less. Go figure. Yet the politicians who tell us what a great country we are did not stop the bullshit that went on for years. They were a part of it in fact. For two years, two years after the corner stone was put in, construction of the tower was stopped because of politics. Ansolutely pathetic.

I loved the old World Trade Center. The Twin Towers were magnificent. They were able to replace the Empire State Building as the signature of New York City. Will this? Hardly. Just another tall building, nothing more. And it can’t even be finished on time. Pataki (former NY governor) and his cronies will give us a heartless tall bunker. Yet apparently we are not afraid. No, we’re not. We’re fucking paranoid. When that idiot Trump, along with many others, suggested we put up two towers similar to the destroyed Twin Towers, but even taller, as a fuck you to the terrorists, he was laughed at. Now as I mentioned he’s an idiot, I can’t stand him. But he was right. World trade Center is not just office space. Its a symbol. And what better symbol than to build two towers, even taller than the ones that were destroyed. But no, instead we get this heartless shit because we are afraid.

And its nothing but fear. And guess what. Despite the rhetoric, its how the terrorists win. Their aim, as their name would suggest, is to spread terror into a society. The politicians told us we do not fear them. But really now. We are scared shitless. No, I am not proposing going back to pre 9/11 ways. But come on. All this controversy, all this politicking, meanwhile we hear slogans about us being the greatest and not afraid. Anything near Ground Zero is now apparently holy ground. If the Europeans thought like this they would have to move whole cities seeing as many were almost completely destroyed. Yet Warsaw, London, Berlin, Leningrad, Rotterdam and many others were simply rebuild. And that did not stop the Europeans from commemorating and remembering their dead. Even in America the pentagon was not abandoned but rebuilt. But in NYC no. Aesthetically speaking many of the other new towers will be quite nice, but Lower Manhattan wont have the same feel and look as it did prior to 2001. Post 9-11 New York is and will be a much different place. And that is yet another tragedy.

I was a proud new Yorker. Proud how we coped, and how we dealt with the attacks. But not long after something happened. And now we are no longer proud. We are simply afraid, despite the slogans and speeches. And we forget what it is to be Americans and New Yorkers. No Americans should be scared of some fanatical bastards. No proper New Yorkers would protest a cultural center and a Mosque, yet they do because they became paranoid. And the New World Trade Center is a reflection of that paranoia. We suffered one major attack in the last decade, yet we are more paranoid than the Brits, Germans, Russians or Poles who were being killed on a daily basis. Yet we hear talk of resilience. Well where is it? When do we stand up and say in a proper New York way “Go fuck yourselves you fanatical bastards, you don’t scare us!”

The politicians and pundits keep telling us that by doing this or that the terrorists win. Well no one ever said anything about fear. The terrorist’s aim is to scare us enough. To scare us enough so we’ll give up our ways. They hate us for what we are, what we were actually. And the most inclusive of cities in America runs around scared protesting a place of worship. The most resilient of American cities, one known worldwide for its skyscrapers is too afraid to build proper tall towers. Greatest country in the world. Greatest city in the world. Are we really?

No that’s not how its going to look like. That picture is from Asia. And technically its not even supposed to be a mosque, but a Muslim Cultural Center. With a swimming pool among other things. But that’s not the point. This is the point:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Yep, that is it. At this point I should just stop writing because the argument is over. But apparently some of the people who are against the building of this Center have heard of the First Amendment of the US Constitution and still are opposed to it. Wow. Just wow. A county that prides itself on letting any one believe in any thing no matter how stupid, is against building a center that caters to a religion. And not some cult dreamt up yesterday, but a 1400 year old religion with about 1.5 billion followers. And why? Because 19 lunatics attacked us in September 11, 2001 and destroyed the World Trade Center in the name of their god.

What bullshit.

Their pathetic excuse is that’s its too close to the site of the WTC. Only two blocks away. What the hell does that mean? What would not be too close? 4 blocks? Because that is how far a mosque is located from Ground Zero right now. Its been there before the Twin Towers were built. Does that not insult anyone? Or hurt anyone’s feelings? People stating that the Center should not be built are saying that the whole of Islam is somehow responsible for the 9-11 attacks. How many called for the banning of all militias after the Oklahoma bombing? Or is it ok when a white, right wing nutter does it? Then its only an act of an individual lunatic. Here a billion and a half people are held responsible.

And the pathetic thing is that there are millions of Muslims in America, American born and bred. And apparently they had something to do with it. Quite a few of those men serve in our military. We even have Muslim chaplains. But no. Fuck you and your Allah. What one person does in your name, you do too, no matter how insane. So we can safely come to the conclusion that all Baptists laugh when our soldiers die. Damn those Baptists. How could they all be like that? Perhaps we should stop building baptist Churches? After all, those freaks from Westboro speak for all of them. Yeah, I know, doesn’t make any sense. Well neither is protesting a fucking cultural center or a mosque using the same logic you cretin.

This is how that dreaded Center will look. Nice actually.

What we have here is a movement against a whole faith. And its not about Ground Zero, that’s just a pathetic excuse. There are morons all over America protesting mosques left and right. Tennessee, California, Wisconsin are just a few states. No attacks there. No people died because of Islam. I bet those who specifically argue just against this one in NY, quietly are with those protesters from other parts of America. That idiot Newt Gingrich said that there shouldn’t be a mosque built in NY till they allow churches and synagogues in Saudi Arabia. Ah yes, that beacon of freedom that America always tried to emulate, Saudi Arabia. Unreal. Another idiot, some American family group leader said that there should be no mosques at all in the United States. Yep, who cares about the Constitution, I’m angry at some dark skinned people. Fuck ’em and their god.

Some peace loving Christians tried to burn and bomb mosques that were already standing. Genius. The best way to show how someone else is violent is to bomb the shit out of them and burn their house of worship. Really? We’re going to have a religious war now? Middle Ages are back? Will we have crosses on our uniforms? Or the stars of David perhaps? Cause the idiots at ADL are also opposed to the center near Ground Zero. But just watch those hypocrites bite at anyone who says what they see as anti-Semitic, real or imagined. If someone was opposed to building a synagogue or a Jewish cultural center anywhere, for any reason, they would all have kittens. But no. Muslim bad. Allah bad, Muhammad bad, mosque bad. What’s next? No more hummus? Freedom Dip!!! God forbid some woman puts a towel on her wet hair. A terrorist with a hairdryer. She might burn though the pipes to cause a leak to flood America. Make sure all bathrooms are watched.

What the fuck is wrong with us? My god. Well I don’t really do god, but you know what I mean. We stopped hating blacks and the Irish and Italians, and the Eastern Europeans. Well thank the Pope that the Mexicans are Catholic otherwise we would have no one to pick our strawberries or mow our lawns, we would have 50 Arizonas, but much harsher. I don’t like to run around and accuse people of bias, bigotry or racism. But that is just what it is. If they were nice and properly white like all normal people should be, and have European culture and manners we would see them for what they are. Normal people who believe in their god as any god fearing Christian would. Only their bad luck that a few lunatics run around bombing shit and killing innocent people in their name.

Some modern mosque, looks awesome.

Seriously. Can we not tell the difference? Are we that ignorant? Surely we can’t be. because the more we go on like that the more we resemble the extremists we hate and fear so much. And that is the point of all this. I am not defending Muslims. I don’t care for them very much. Nor for their customs. I like to drink once in a bit, I like women in bikinis. I don’t particularly care for their faith either. I don’t care for any religion. I do respect religions. But I also fear them. Just for that reason. Anyone who strongly believes he is right will easily justify all kinds of shit. I fear fundamentalists. Of all forms, from religious nutters to warring atheists. From those idiots who kill anything that moves and call it hunting or a sport, to those morons at PETA who would kill a person before they would see someone hurt a cockroach. They are all frightening. I do fear them. But not to the point of becoming like them. Never to the point of really hating them.

Because most Muslims, like most Christians or atheists, are just good hard working people who want to live out their lives in a peaceful good way. And just as I do not condemn all American Protestants whenever Par Robertson says something truly stupid and hurtful. I do not condemn all atheists whenever one says idiotic things about religion. I also do not condemn all of Islam for 9-11. And it was my city they attacked. They killed people I knew. They destroyed two of my favourite buildings. I really did love the Twin Towers. But if all of Islam was like those 19 fanatical dicks then we would be losing by now. Because guess what. Its hard to kill one and a half billion people. But they don’t all want to kill us. They don’t all want to do Jihad and get virgins. The ones that do hate the West, hate us for what we are and for what we stand. They sure as shit would not let anyone build a church in Afghanistan. In fact the Taliban blew up ancient Buddhist statues when they were running Afghanistan.

Destroyed by the Taliban

Do we really want to take example from Taliban? What makes us any better when we act like that? Yoda said: Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. He was wise. We can not become what we fear. But slowly we are. When we act like intolerant twats. No one is telling you to like the Muslims. But you have to tolerate them. This is what America is all about. A motley collection of people not killing each other. One would hope that in the XXI century Americans would be more enlightened then the Spanish inquisitors. But one might be wrong. And that is sad. And some of our leaders and opinion makers fail us once again. Once again they take the wrong stand aimed at the wrong people. And some are quite learned. Some know better. Yet they do it any way. For a rating point. For a future vote. Some like Beck love to bring up Nazism all the time. Well this is how they started. With hate. They did not go out on the first day and say: We’re going to murder millions of Jews for no good reason. No, they started preparing people by doing the little things first. It was only then that the Holocaust became possible. Now of course America is not likely to become like the Nazis. But we’re more and more starting to resemble those intolerant and hateful Islamic fundamentalists we hate so much.